First proposed by the American physicist Gerard O’Neill in the 70s, an O’Neill Cylinder is a large tube, pressurised with an atmosphere, and spinning to create artificial gravity. The hull features alternating strips of “land” and transparent windows, allowing sunlight to be reflected inside from large mirrors. The cylinder has become an iconic design, familiar from a raft of TV, movie, and videogame depictions of mankind’s future. Ralf Langer has built a beautiful LEGO version of an O’Neill-based space colony, using microscale to ensure his space settlement features fields and trees, flowing rivers, and towering cities. The rings supporting the curved land panels have technical-looking greebles, and the entire creation looks much bigger than it really is. This is epic LEGO sci-fi, depicting a future I’d love to see. The post Our future lies amidst the stars, in a LEGO O’Neill Cylinder appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author:...

As many of us are still enjoying their newly bought LEGO Ideas 21311 Voltron sets, the LEGO Ideas First 2018 Review Results are already here, so we can finally learn what the next LEGO Ideas set will be. And — surprise! — not one, but two fan ideas were selected by the LEGO Ideas team to become the new sets. The first one is a massive Treehouse by Kevin Feeser. The second idea to be approved is The Flintstones project by Andrew Clark. Yabba Dabba Doo! Both projects are something we have never seen done by LEGO before. Depending on its final design, the Treehouse may quite possibly become a hit among fans of Castle theme, while Flintstones will appeal to many adult fans and casual LEGO builders and collectors. And don’t forget to check out announcement video featuring Ali Plumb and Hasan Jensen! Here’s the full list of reviewed projects:...

With its distinctive inverted gullwings and gorgeous dark blue color scheme, the Vought F4U Corsair is easily my all-time favorite fighter plane. Produced throughout both World War II and the Korean War, the warplane also has the distinction of having the longest production run of any piston-engined fighter. While James Cherry may not be the most prolific LEGO builder — he shared his amazing 1/15-scale LEGO F-14A Tomcat jet fighter exactly two years ago — but each of his creations is well worth the wait. Built to the same scale as the Tomcat, James’s Corsair is deceptively huge; for a better sense of the scale, notice that the palm trees are built from stacked washtubs! We’ve estimated that this LEGO Corsair has a wingspan of over one hundred studs (over 32 inches or 82 cm), and it’s over 80 studs long from nose to tail (over 26″ / 67 cm). James...

Throwing traditional building caution to the solar wind, Alex “Orion Pax” Jones’s insanely colourful ship is certainly one of the more unusual models to come out of this year’s SHIPtember challenge. Alex notes that he tried to use all of the colours in the LEGO palette, making his build not only a SHIP (a seriously huge investment in parts), but also a SHIC (a seriously huge investment in colours). After its namesake, the side of the vessel operates as an interstellar PAX or peace sign. Borrowing heavily from the graphic flourishes of graffiti aesthetic, the spacecraft shrugs off the utilitarian norms of spacecraft design in favour of a brash, exuberant look. Alex explains his ethos best when he says: “If you ride, ride in style!” The post What colour should a spaceship be? Answer: all of them! appeared first on The Brothers Brick. Original linkOriginal author: David Alexander Smith

This dark and mysterious figure by Fedde Barendrecht represents a powerful evil from H. P. Lovecraft’s horror stories. While not as well known as Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep is just as terrifying. In the stories and poems he is said to have a thousand forms, and Fedde has decided to build possibly the most sinister of them in LEGO; a tall, slender man with coal black skin and clothing, with tentacles spreading from underneath his robe. Most of Fedde’s builds are small with a funny theme, generally centered around an imaginative new use for an exotic brick. Every now and again, however, a nightmare-inducing creation like this one pops up. The build itself is simple, or at least it uses very few pieces, apart from the numerous tentacles. My favourite part usage is the octopus used as Nyarlathotep’s mouth and the tentacles behind his head. The post He is horrible—horrible beyond anything you...